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Turkish Airlines flies to 301 cities in 121 countries around the world. The Star Alliance Member started flying to Nepal in September 2013 and has been continuously ferrying people, to and fro, between Nepal and multiple global destinations. The airlines currently has five flights a week from Nepal, and is planning a daily flight starting this September.

Abdullah Tuncer KECECI, General Manager of Turkish Airlines Nepal office, talks to APEX about the presence of Turkish Airlines in Nepal, and about its future plans and possibilities.

As a representative of one of the biggest international carriers in the world, what do you make of the state of the Tribhuvan International Airport?

We are positive about the airport extending its opening hours from 18 to 21. And we hope it will be open for 24 hours soon. But at present, we would like the airport to open earlier.

Right now it opens at 6 am. Our flights are scheduled at 6:20 am, which creates many problems. We want the airport to open at around 4 am. That will also motivate other European carriers to come and will also decrease peak load. It will help everyone.

Also, there is too much traffic for a single-runway airport. There are upcoming airport projects all around Nepal and we are hopeful that they will increase the productivity in aviation sector. But as of now, air traffic in Kathmandu airport is a problem. It is not a good prac­tice to hold planes on air for 40-50 minutes. I hope the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal resolves this issue and help Nepal reach its vision of tourism development.

Turkish Airlines is known for promoting the countries it flies to. What is it doing to promote Nepal abroad?

We have a few plans to promote Nepal. We fly to global tourist des­tinations like London, Berlin, Stutt­gart, Helsinki, Moscow, Paris and Lisbon, to name a few, and our mis­sion has been to promote Nepal in all those destinations.

Nepalis are spending more on outbound travel than what the country is earning from tourism. As an international carrier, how do you evaluate the Nepali tour­ism market?

Nepal has a lot more capacity on tourism than what it is currently utilizing. You don’t have the sea but you have everything besides the sea, like mountains, rivers, cul­tural heritages, historic cities and natural beauty. Unfortunately, the country is being promoted in seasons like March/April and September/October.

What about people not interested in hiking to the mountains? Moun­tains were a strong theme for Nepal but then they became the weakest link at some point. We can’t afford to have only seasonal tourists coming here. So we have to promote Nepal for its people and places besides the mountains, and create an all-season tourist flow.

Also, the spending on outbound travel is not only because more peo­ple are travelling. It is also because of the labor flow.

How does Turkish Airlines con­nect with the people of Nepal? Why should Nepalis travelling abroad choose your airlines?

Most international flights started in Nepal to cater to the labor mar­ket here. But for us, from the day we started, we have been treating Nepal as one of the popular tourist destinations in the world. We even encourage other carriers to do that, and believe this well get a positive response from the people of Nepal.

We are trying to reach every peo­ple, not only who can travel. Our main target is to build a cultural bridge between Turkey and Nepal, and between Nepal and other coun­tries. For that reason we support other areas like sports, women empowerment, youth and children. If it was in our hands, we would support all those who want to do something for the country.

We want to make this earth­quake-affected Kathmandu city lively through our events. When the city is alive, people have more reason to come to Nepal. This in turn will empower Nepalis and create an intelligent movement of people. We’re also trying to build trade ties between Turkey and Nepal, which has increased significantly since we started operations.

The Turkish Airlines World Gold Tournament was held in Nepal this year. How was the response?

We did it for the first time in Nepal and got a warm response. Turkish Airlines has been hosting international golfing events in other countries over the past six years, mostly in golf destinations. This year we decided to increase the num­ber of destinations and included Nepal too.

We had a chance to host one leg of the tournament here in May. With this, Nepal is now in the golf net­work, which covers 64 countries around the world and more than 100 flight destinations. All in all, we are promoting Nepal as a golf desti­nation as well.

Besides that, we are planning to host other events in Nepal. Around our upcoming fifth anniversary in Nepal, we’re planning more events including a Turkish food festival.

Running in its third year, Arogin Healthcare & Research Centre (P) Ltd is a team of highly qualified medical professionals who without hesitation call themselves the present and future of quality medical services in Nepal. Biplob Prasai of APEX interviewed Roshan Pandey, its Managing Director. Excerpts.

 What is Arogin Healthcare & Research Centre?

To be precise, Arogin Health Care and research Center is a group of companies. We have five companies associated with us, with our name. Arogin is a dream project of the team of 11 doctors from the All India Insti­tute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (AIIMS). Doctors like physiatrist Dr Pawan Sharma, orthopedic surgeon Dr Sushil Paudel and Dr Ramesh Kadel, the only doctor in the field of geriatrics in Nepal.

What are the services provided by Arogin?

Out of many, I’ll discuss a few. In the field of physiatry, we have a product for stress management, which is the need of the hour. And in case of Dyslexia—a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols—we have doctors who are super specialized. We are associated with many school and Montessori and we run special clinics for children.

When it comes to orthopedic problems, people think pain is cured only by surgery. But there are other solutions. We have ‘Arogin Pain Man­agement Center’, and our own Phys­iotherapy center where we focus on curing pain via a combination of medicine and therapy.

And lastly, Dr Ramesh Kadel had a thought to establish a care home for elderly people in Nepal while doing his Doctor of Medicine (MD). His thoughts met our vision. As opposed to an old-age home, we established ‘Arogin Care Home & Home Nursing Service’ in Budanilkantha.

It’s a bungalow, and we designed the interior in order to hide medi­cal equipment as much as possible. We provide proper diet, nutrition and care to elderly people with love and affection. The concept of old-age home has been sullied a bit in Nepal. We hope to improve its image.

What are your objectives?

We hope to be the second opinion in Nepal. Here, people are misguided and confused about treatment. Doubts leads them to fly abroad.

People generally go to India or Singapore for treatment. But 30 per­cent of total doctors in Singapore are from AIIMS. Arogin provides the same doctors right here in Nepal. Moreover, highly specialized doctors are added cherry on top. In the field of dentistry, our doctor are attempt­ing something called maxillofacial surgery, which will be the first for Nepal. We are also starting primary dental services with three doctors, all of whom have Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) from AIIMS.

The gap between Nepal and other countries when it comes to treat­ment options is decreasing. We hope to start medical tourism in Nepal, which is easier said than done. But, in the case of hair transplant, this is already true, with our clients coming from as far afield as India, broader Asia and Europe.

James T Walsh is a former US Congressman with strong links to Nepal. He represented New York for over 18 years in the US House of Representatives. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal in 1970-72, speaks fluent Nepali and maintains his links with this country. Walsh was instrumental in drawing congressional attention to the pro-democracy movement in April 2006 by organizing congressional hearings. He was also closely involved with the Northern Ireland peace process. In this email correspondence with John Narayan Parajuli, Walsh spoke about current US policy towards Nepal, Nepal-India-China relations and the rudderless state of the US State Department.

 How do you see current US policies towards Nepal?

I don’t see any specific activity related to Nepal. Trump is very focused on international trade, but on bilateral deals only. Among countries in the region, China is the big focus. US-China relations are cool. US-India relations, on the other hand, are warm. Our State Department is rudderless right now. I see no significant activities focused on Nepal.

Nepal is also more and more focused on relations with India and China—often seemingly at the expense of relations with other countries. Does that worry you and other friends of Nepal in the US?

China and India are competing, as you know. Relations with these two countries are far more important for Nepal. Nepal’s friends would want you to get the best from each country, but caution about quid pro quo. But we like India better.

With China now asserting its presence, including by using its considerable financial muscle, the power balance in Nepal has truly changed. What kind of rela­tions can the US have with Nepal in such a changed context?

The US at the moment is very inwardly focused. Brexit shows that the UK is too. Same with Russia. China is acting imperialistic. I am worried about where this is all going

Nepal is transitioning from a uni­tary system to a federal system. Are there things that it can learn from the US experience?

It is a delicate balance between the states and the federal govern­ment. An all-powerful federal gov­ernment would be bad. Power likes to consolidate itself at the top, so beware! Our judicial system and the free press are real strengths. There seems to be in the world today a real trend towards strongman govern­ments. Look at Russia, China and the US. That is bad for the world. Smaller countries may want to emulate them, especially if charis­matic leaders are involved. The role of the press is key. Don’t let your government control the press.

A powerful executive isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But with the provision of such a strong president, how does the system of checks and balances between the different branches of govern­ment work in the US?

The legislature needs to control the money, with no opportunity for interference by a republican executive.

Control the money. We call it the power of the purse. Reject any idea of a line-item veto. The exec­utive must accept the budget as voted on by the legislature or he can veto it and possibly be over­ridden. If the executive gets to pick and choose what gets spent, he will have too much control.

Anything you would like to add at the end?

My son was just elected Mayor of Syracuse. He has 3,000 ethnic Nepali Bhutanese as constituents (former Bhutanese refugees). It is wonderful to have Nepali spoken in my hometown. I plan to volunteer for language training and help them with English.

Director at Jyoti Group of Companies and Chairman of Syakar Trading Company, the authorized distributor of Honda bikes and cars in Nepal, Saurabh Jyoti is an avid rider and motorcycle enthusiast. His love for motorcycles becomes evident when you see his garage. The ‘Honda Africa Twin’, ‘CBR Fireblade’, ‘CB1100’, the ‘Ducati Diavel’, ‘Suzuki Hayabusa’, and the ‘Harley Davidson 883 Iron’ are a few of the motorcycles he has in his collection. This year marks 50 years of Honda in Nepal, making it the oldest distributor of the Japanese manufacturers in the world, second only to Vietnam. A considerable feat for a company in the Nepali auto industry, Syakar Trading Company has also held a dominant position in the motorcycling scene of Nepal.

Here are excerpts from our conversation with the man behind the reigns: Saurabh Jyoti, regarding the motorcycling culture in Nepal and a look back at Honda’s milestone products.

Tell us a little about the motorcycling cul­ture in Nepal.

If you look at how far we’ve come from when the first motorcycles came to Nepal, the development is staggering. It has been 50 years since Honda entered the Nepali market and we’ve grown with the motorcycling cul­ture that millions of people have adopted.

This evolution has to do with the fact that Nepal does not have a proper mass transport. Sadly, we don’t have the right planning. In this situation, motorcycles serve the purpose for the public.

Motorcycles are the means of mobility by which the economy runs. It is the fastest way of affordably getting from point A to point B. The word affordable has to be used loosely because of the ridiculous duty levied on vehicles. The quicker the government realizes that motorcycles are a necessity, and not a luxury, the easier it is going to be for the public.

Further, our country is blessed with good weather and destinations. Over the years the eagerness of people to explore our beautiful country has created a new demand for bigger capacity motorcycles.

In your opinion, which are the best places to go on motorcycle road trips?

I have always loved a quick ride to Pokhara and back. It is fun, easy, and Pokhara is a great place to end a long ride. Going to Jomsom is also always fun too.

Lo Manthang and Rara are on my wish list of places to ride to. I had a Lhasa ride planned, but I ended up with this leg injury. I even had the Africa Twin ready with the pannier bags and everything. The bike is more than ready to go. I’m not.

Tell our readers about this initiative of Honda, the Safety Riding School.

Motorcycling in Nepal is challenging. The roads are obstacles in themselves. Then, there is the lack of traffic sense. You have to be careful about other people on the road because not everyone abides by traffic rules. There are many who don’t even abide by com­mon sense. So, safety should be high on your priority when you’re riding your motorcycle. This is why we started the Syakar Safety Riding Training Center.

The riding center has helped riders become more responsible. It has also played a major role in reforming the government’s motorcy­cle riding license test, improving the primitive foundation to a more advanced method of testing a rider’s skills.

What goals do you have for Honda in 2018?

2018 is going to be challenging as the mar­ket isn’t increasing as expected. But we will continue to retain our position as the market leader.

We are proud to celebrate Honda’s 50 years in Nepal, which very few companies can boast of. We may be the second oldest distributor of Honda globally, second only to Vietnam. Cel­ebrations will continue throughout the year.

The Honda CG, XL and XR, Dio and Shine played significant roles for Honda motor­cycles in Nepal. Tell us your opinion on these motorcycles.

The first product from Honda motorcycles to be imported into Nepal was the CT-90. After that the CG 125 came in and it became one of the most loved and reliable motorcycles. It became a benchmark for the motorcycling industry in terms of reliability, quality, and ease of use.

Then we moved on to the “can go anywhere” XL 125 and 185. It was known to be one of the most durable motorcycles back then, and they are still around decades after commanding a very high demand.

Getting to the Dio, well, it was a game changer. In Nepal, out of a population of almost 30 million, 50.49 percent are women. At that time, there wasn’t a good mode of mobility for women. Without women, how can we have prosperity and inclusive growth? While the Dio was a unisex vehicle, it became the symbol of freedom and mobility and helped empower women.

The Shine was the go to machine for the working class. It upgraded things from the 100cc segment to 125cc, enough for Nepal’s roads. Reliable, great mileage and a work steed, the Honda Shine became the premium offering for the average Nepali person.

What can we expect in your garage?

I just got the 2015, 25th anniversary edition of the CBR Fireblade in matte black. It should be here soon.